


Guilt and Bittersweet Memories

by Armed_With_Knitting_Needles



Series: Linked Universe Fanfics [1]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Bittersweet, Gen, Linked Universe, LinkedUniverse, We don't actually have a LU tag everybody uses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 02:29:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18240551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Armed_With_Knitting_Needles/pseuds/Armed_With_Knitting_Needles
Summary: Wild has a memory that sends him storming off. Legend can relate.





	Guilt and Bittersweet Memories

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story for the Linked Universe au by Jojo56830 (https://jojo56830.tumblr.com/). The Linked Universe website is https://linkeduniverse.tumblr.com/.

It was dusk. The Links were sitting around their fire after a long day. Sky was working on a carving. The Captain was polishing his sword. Time and Hyrule were playing a slow flute and ocarina duet. Wind had dishes duty and was furiously scrubbing. Wild was repairing his zora armor. It was sturdy, but his unique methods of fishing took a toll on it. The other were simply relaxing, enjoying not having to do anything. All in all, it was a peaceful night. 

It was Four who first noticed the far away expression that had taken over Wild’s face. He knew what it meant and sighed. Wild was having another memory. It was a hard process to watch. He couldn’t begin the imagine what he was going through. He looked pale as he snapped out of it. It must of been a bad one. He was shocked as he saw a tear slide down Wild’s face. He could be moody, unresponsive, and unusually reckless after a particularly bad memory, but he never cried. Wind had noticed too. 

“Are you doing okay?” Wind asked hesitantly. He didn’t want to draw attention to it, but he wanted to make sure his friend was alright. 

For a minute Wild didn’t respond. He just stared into the middle distance. The other Links grew restless, shifting nervously. Feelings were not a strong suit among them. 

Wild stood abruptly. He turned on his heel and half ran half stalked out of camp, cursing loudly. The cursing grew more vulgar and creative as it faded into the distance. The rest of the Links sat stunned in uncomfortable silence. Even the usual sounds of the forest had been scared off by the sudden movement and noise.

The moment grew longer and more awkward. Eventually Time spoke. “I suppose one of us better go find him.” He didn’t volunteer. He wasn’t sure how to deal with this. He looked at Twilight. 

“Fine.” 

“Actually…” there was another surprised hush as the group turned to look at Legend. He was holding a very old, weathered journal. “I might have a better chance with this one.”

No one objected in the stunned silence. Legend got up and walked in the direction Wild had stormed off in. 

The Captain eventually broke the following silence. “Well, at least now we know he was definitely a soldier.” 

Six pairs of eyes turned to him. “No civilian can swear like that.”

Every Link jumped as Time burst out laughing. Wind stared at the dishes still in his hands. This had been one of the oddest experiences he had ever had.  

* * *

 

Wild was sitting on the edge of a cliff when Legend found him. Normally that wouldn’t be alarming, but the night had not been normal. Legend sat down beside him, their legs swinging above a hundred foot drop. It was almost five minutes before Wild spoke.

“You weren’t who I was expecting.”

“I imagine not.”

There was a long pause. Links were good at that. 

“I made a scene.”

Legend snorted. “You certainly did.” 

Another pause.

“Why are you the one here?” Wild asked. 

“I read her journal.” He didn’t have to say whose journal he was talking about. 

Wild chucked. “I forgot about that. I take it you read all of it? Not just the part you were trying to tease me with?”  Legend nodded. 

Wild gave Legend a sidelong look. “That can’t be the only reason.”

There was another long pause. Legend didn’t want to talk about this. He had avoided thinking about it for years, but it needed to be said. His friend needed to hear it.

“It was about Mipha right?” Wild stiffened, but nodded.

Legend sighed. It was now or never. “Out of all of us, I think I’m the one who can best understand how you feel.” Wild stared. Legend continued, “You loved her. Now she’s dead. I know about that.” He pretended not to notice that Wild flinched at the word “dead”. 

“It was my fourth adventure at that point. I met her when I was shipwrecked on an island.” He snorted. “At least I thought it was an island. It turned out that all of it, the island the people,...Marin,” he ignored how his throat tightened as he said her name. “They were all just part of the Wind Fishes’s dream. She… disappeared when it woke up.” He took a deep breath. “She disappeared when I succeeded in waking the Wind Fish.” He hadn’t even thought that in years. As much as it painful though, it was liberating to admit it.

Wild’s eyes widened at that. He often blamed himself for Mipha’s death, and the deaths of the other champions, but that was because he failed. If she had died because he succeeded… he shuddered. He wouldn’t think about that. 

“There,” said Legend, “I’ve shared. Now it’s your turn.” His voice was tight, but not unkind. 

Wild snorted. “I thought you didn’t like talking about feelings.”

“I don’t. Now talk.”

“I remembered her proposal.”

“Her proposal?”

He took a breath. “I remembered the day she asked me to marry her.”

Legend gaped. He knew he had jumped into the deep end, but he hadn’t known just how deep it was. 

“We were on top of Vah Ruta looking at the sunset. We didn’t get much time alone together. When she took out the shirt I knew what she was going ask, but I was still unprepared when she did.

“She said ‘I know we don’t get to spend a lot of time together now, but after this, after this is all done, I want to spend more time together.’ I was so confused. Was she just saying that she wanted to see me more? But then she said, ‘In fact, I want to spend the rest of our lives together. I want to marry you, Link.’” He took a shuddering breath.

“She looked at me and she looked so worried and I couldn’t figure out why.” He gave a self-deprecating chuckle, “Then I realized I hadn’t answered her yet. And do you know what I said?” He looked at Legend, who was both wishing he had let Twilight handle this and amazed his friend was sharing this much with him. Legend shook his head mutely.

“I said, ‘After the Calamity. Ask me again after the Calamity. I’ll say yes.’” He laughed a bitter laugh. “Even then, even when I was so stressed and so afraid, I was confident we were going to win. She smiled at me and nodded. There were tears in her eyes.” 

Legend couldn’t find words. He wasn’t good at that. The Links generally weren’t. Instead he put a friend on his friend’s shoulder. Wild wasn’t done.

“I always wondered how I felt about her. It was pretty clear how she felt about me, her diary literally spelled it out, but I was never sure how I felt about her. They told me I loved her, but how could I really know?” He paused, “I loved her. It hurts.”

Legend didn’t know what to say. How could there be anything to say? He had lost Marin, but she had never been real, and he hadn’t been in love yet. He thought fondly of her yes, but he didn’t have thoughts of marrying her. 

He simply said “I’m sorry,” and kept his hand on Wild’s shoulder. They sat there looking out into the night, not saying another word. 

* * *

When they walked back into camp, the atmosphere was awkward to say the least. There seemed to be a bubble of embarrassment surrounding the Links. To Wild’s surprise this wasn’t because of his outburst. Well, it was, but not in the way he expected. He’d forgotten how curious Wind could be and how surprisingly sheltered he was. 

“If it means the son of a female dog, why was he shouting about puppies when he was that upset,” Wind asked

“Well… err…” It looked like the Captain was the one stuck with explaining. It seemed his crack about soldiers had earned him the title of “swearing expert.” “Well… it’s like…” He spotted Wild and Legend as they walked back into camp. “Why don’t you ask the man who said it? I’m sure he knows why.” He got several glares for pushing the explanation off onto someone who had clearly been very upset, but Wild waved them off. 

“It’s saying someone’s mother is a dog. You use it when your really angry at someone. I was mad at the world, so I was using it in general.” The Captain should have known better. Wild gave very honest answers. Twilight couldn’t believe that at 14 Wind didn’t know how to curse.

Wild sat down by the fire next to Twilight. He picked his Zora armor and started mending it again. Even if it sometimes triggered memories, it still needed to be mended. 

“Are you doing okay?” Twilight asked. 

Wild nodded. “Were you listening in?”

Twilight winced. “I was, but it seemed too private so I left.” 

Wild nodded again. He hurt right now, but that was part of the healing process. Mipha had always reminded him of that.

**Author's Note:**

> Notes:  
> I HC that the soldiers at Hyrule Castle taught Time how to swear when he was a kid, which is why he laughed. 
> 
> If possible I would love some constructive criticism. Please tell me what you liked and didn't. If you hate it, cool, tell me why. It's the only way I can get better.


End file.
